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Tag: Starbucks

The mocha-colored drive-thru Starbucks that’s been brewing at 1801 Richmond Ave. since its predecessor building was torn down in January now appears just about ready to serve. Landscape crews are plopping in plants on the Richmond Ave. side; this view taken from an upper floor of the nearby Fairmont Museum District Apartments shows how the new building looks nestled next to its notable neighbors, which include the Big Tex Storage facility and King Cole liquor store across Richmond and Mexican restaurant La Tapatia just across Woodhead:

A Stand-alone Starbucks is now open at West Rd. and N. Eldridge Pkwy. in the parking lot of the Raceway gas station on the southwest corner. The new building appears to be the first Starbucks to encroach into the area bounded by 290, Beltway 8, Hwy. 6, and I-10 — though it still skirts the perimeter of the area. (Roughly half of that region is occupied by the Addicks Reservoir). The coffee shop joins Hot Donuts in the salon-rich strip center across West Rd.; nearby probable non-competitors include the ITEX Piping International and Berlin Packaging facilities.

Rising in this photo, from left to right: the back-t0-searching Williams Tower, the 30-story Mercer condo building, and the vertical sign for the new Starbucks that opened yesterday morning at the northeast corner of Richmond Ave. and Chimney Rock Rd. The freestanding coffee shop at 5540 Richmond (next to the spot previously occupied by now-demolished Taco Cabana) is right across the street from the freestanding former Starbucks no longer listed on the company’s website at 5549 Richmond, between wine-themed Pinot’s Palette and probably-not-intentionally-wine-themed Night Train Luggage.

The store is a 4-minute drive from the Starbucks-turned-Minuti on the corner of Fountainview Dr. and Westheimer Rd., and just a 3-minute drive from the new AT&T-adjacent Starbucks on S. Rice Ave. south of 59, at the edge of the Walmart Supercenter parking lot next to relocated MicroCenter. Folks who want to get their coffee and split can head east to the drive-through lane; folks looking to stick around can hang out inside, out front, or on the semi-sheltered side patio which will eventually be partially screened with greenery, if the planter plants follow the plan:

A pile of dirt is heaped up at the northeast corner of N. Braeswood Blvd and the West Loop feeder road this afternoon, next to a sign announcing the upcoming arrival of a Starbucks to the site. The lot held a Citgo station before demolition in mid-2013; a reader notes that construction crews have been poking around at the site for at least the past 3 weeks.

Crews working on the site of the former Village Mobil on the inbound I-10 feeder road at 8819 Katy Fwy. have now covered up part of the former gas station sign with a new hood announcing the Starbucks drive-thru now under construction in its place. But only the top part of the sign. “Will the Hedwig Village Starbucks stick with the ‘by the gallon’ pricing strategy of its predecessor?” asks reader (and Metro board member) Christof Spieler, who snapped this photo.

Headed into the Loop along I-10 and missed the exit for the Starbucks in the shopping center at Echo Ln.? Construction has already begun on your new inbound coffee-stop backup. The former site of the stone-encrusted Village Mobil gas station at the corner of Brogden and the eastbound Katy Fwy. feeder road (pictured here as it appeared before it was torn down last year) between Campbell and Voss is currently being transformed into a brand-new Starbucks drive-thru, a source tells Swamplot. And you can reach it from the next exit, for Bingle and Voss — if, in your uncaffeinated state, you can move 3 lanes over on the feeder fast enough. (If not, just apologize to the drivers you almost cut off and try to duck into the Sweet Tomatoes parking lot across the way to work your way back; if you miss that, you can take a mile-long turnaround through the neighborhood by making a right turn on Old Voss Rd.)

It appears our report earlier this week was a bit premature (although this one was more accurate). Rosenberg will be losing 2 out of its 3 Starbucks locations. And a total of 8 Starbucks stores will be closing in Houston — plus 1 in the Deerbrook Mall, which is technically in Humble.

Thanks to the pioneering work of a last-name-free coffee drinker going by the name Winter, who has been on a 11-year-long “personal mission” to visit and photograph every single Starbucks in the world, we now have a well-illustrated compilation of the 11 Houstonish Starbucks locations the company has decided to close as part of its 600-store nationwide shutdown extravaganza. Ready for the tour?

3821 S. Shepherd at Farnham. On the “other ” Shepherd Curve, across from Amy’s Ice Cream. It’s been hiding there for a while, but did it ever have customers?